I Got Tagged (Thanks Marthea)

Well, I just got tagged by my wonderful sister Marthea, so I must oblige. Especially, since she is complaining about the fact I haven't updated my blog in a while. I must confess, I have been very busy as of late with my Computers in Education class. I am having a great time though. I've learned Excel, PowerPoint, Comic Life, Stellarium, and other websites where I can get freeware that is utilized in education. It is a busy class but the projects are a lot of fun. This will be the last class I need to take until 2014. By that time, hopefully I will be an employed teacher and working on my masters. Heintje can't be the only Master in the family.

My five addictions

• 1. My nuclear and extended family. Need I say more, family is what it is all about.
• 2. Orton-Gillingham: Teaching children to read that have been written off by everyone else brings me great satisfaction. I talk about this incessantly to the point I think everyone is sick to death from hearing about it.
• 3. Ancient history: No matter how hard I try, ancient Egypt, Israel, and Native Americans keep sucking me back in. Politics is probably a close second.
• 4. Chocolate, Chocolate and more Chocolate: It is the bane of my existence and I wish I could just leave it alone but it is OH SO GOOOOOOD!
• 5. TV: Thankfully now we have a stationary bike in front of the TV, so I can do something constructive when I watch. I limit my time in front of the tube but I could totally see myself vegging for a whole day if I let myself. Those documentaries and history programs just kill me and I can't get enough, as well as most any sci-fi, fantasy, or adventure movie. Reading fiction in a wide variety of genres is a close second. If I'm not doing one, I'm likely doing the other. (I am so pathetic)

I hope this satisfies the requirement. Should I tag others???? Probably not, since the people I would tag, have already been tagged by Marthea. I think only family reads my blog anyway. I will try to get another family oriented post up soon. The problem is, we have forgotten to take the camera on the latest adventures we have had. The boys are playing basketball and we went skiing at Paoli Peaks last Saturday, which was a blast!!! The boys did very well and skied for almost three hours. I figured they would get sick of it within twenty minutes and want to go in. Nothin' doing, they stayed out and finally made it to the actual bunny hill. Stephen wanted to go out on the slopes but we had to be back to feed the missionaries and didn't have time. So one day we will go again and Stephen can try it.

December Highlights

Here is a picture from our trip to St. Louis that I didn't get in. Finally we found something that would wear our crazy boys out. They had a really great time playing inside this hamster wheel and went back to it several times throughout the day. Like I said before, the science museum was a lot of fun.

We also at the beginning of this month had our first snow. There was just enough on the gound that the boys could sled outside. They also tried out their little snow boards as well. Even little Christopher got into the snowboarding frenzy. I would have gone outside with them but I have been experiencing a lot of illness

these days with a succession of sinus infections. We have been getting a load of winter weather so hopefully I will be getting out and enjoying the winter weather sometime soon.

Of course December wouldn't be complete without the annual school Christmas program. Ethan and Stephen were in it this year together. It was fun watching the program. The picture quality is poor because we were so far away in the bleachers.

December is also the month of Ethan's birthday. He desired a Christmas tree

cake so I tried to make one for him. We also did chocolate cupcakes for those who didn't want the white tree cake. Now I know why cake decorators get the big bucks. We had a great time with family and friends as we celebrated Ethan turning seven years old. He was so excited and happy for his special day.

Fall Break

For fall break we went to St. Louis and took the children to see loads of things. On Thursday, we went to the zoo, where we all viewed the wonderful collection of animals there. Then on Friday we saw and went up into the Arch. The children all loved going up, although Ethan did express his fear of elevators just a bit. They enjoyed the museum there as well. After that we went to the science museum and had a great time viewing all the exhibits. The children by the end of the day were exhausted! The next day on Saturday we went to Cahokia and Bob and I introduced the children to Native American history. We walked on the great mound and hiked all around the grounds. We also went inside the interpretive center to view the exhibits on early Native American life. I am always very moved whenever we go there. While we were there at Cahokia, a large group was touring the center at the same time. It turned out they were a group from Utah seeing church sites and had just been to Nauvoo. So we talked with them a little about history and the Book of Mormon. It is so funny to meet up with other members of the church in unexpected places. After Cahokia we drove home. It is always fun to go other places and do other things every so often. Bob and I love introducing the boys to new and interesting things as they grow up. Here are some pictures of our travels and one of Christopher cutting up a pumpkin for Halloween. The children collected quite a bit of candy on Halloween and had a great time.

Christopher Joins His Brothers in the School Experience

Since school has started, Christopher has begged to go to school. Because his birthday falls just past the 2009 August beginning for regular school, I figured I would put him in pre-K school next year. However, since he has shown his ability to be ready for Kindergarten next year, we decided to put him in pre-school this year. He had his first day yesterday and did very well. Mrs. Ryan expressed she would like to nickname him smiley, because he smiled the whole time he was there. He is so excited about being a big school boy now. In talking with the Kindergarten teacher, she felt confident Christopher would be ready for her class, even though he won't be quite five yet when he starts school. We shall see how everything goes.

Ethan had his first test of the year and received a 100%. We are so pleased with how well he is doing. Unfortunately, first grade is quite the adjustment for him. Getting up in the morning is proving to be very difficult for him. He is very grouchy when he gets up. Hopefully as the year progresses things will get easier in the "waking up department" for him.

Stephen has been doing well too. He has gotten 100% + bonus on his spelling tests. He is also working very hard to be a good example and live up to the standards in his Faith in God book. He is growing up and is taking more and more responsibility in the house and at school. He is getting close to completing his Wolf rank and will be moving up to work on his Bear rank in October.

Thus our family is very busy keeping up with school, activities, and family fun. We are very blessed to have everyone healthy and happy and expect this new school year to be full of growth and fun.

A New Pet For The Pace Family

We are now the proud owners of a new little kitten we have named Midnight. He is a stray that has been hanging around the neighborhood. I felt sorry for it, so I fed him and he of course stayed. He will be an outside cat, for the most part, but right now he is spending the next seven days cooped up in a cat carrier, because we had him fixed today. After that back outside he goes. He is a really sweet cat and although I think most cats are the spawn of Satan, I really like Midnight. He is a very affectionate cat and really likes people. He of course, is black and he is between four and six month old. I figure he will hunt the mice and moles in the yard and for the most part he just hangs around the property. At night, we may put him in his cat carrier to keep him safe from the coyotes.

I would post a picture, but recently our digital camera bit the dust, so until we can afford a new one we won't have pictures. Sorry Marthea, pictures of the new deck will have to wait. Maybe if Jeff can get out here while he is visiting, he can get a picture for you so you can see it.

The children are really glad to have Midnight and spend many hours petting and chasing him down. He is so good natured about it all. We are very happy to have such a super cat.

It Has Finally Happened!

After five long years of waiting and saving, the deck project has finally been accomplished! We get to use it this weekend for Christopher's birthday party. So pictures will come later. Dustin, Mike, and their helper Phil did an awesome job. We are very pleased with the result. Now we are able to go out our sliding glass door and get even more of a cross breeze in the living and kitchen space. There are other jobs that need doing but now we can at least scratch this one off the list.

40 is finally here!!!

I am so excited that 40 has finally arrived. I decided this year to spend it in the temple and my two wonderful sisters-in-law graciously came with me to Louisville. They took me to lunch at Qdoba, which was a lot of fun. The ride down and back was full of talking and laughing. We missed the turn off coming back, but with Stephanie and Bethany to get me back on track, there was no worries.

Bob gave me a super kiss and hug when I got home, plus Ethan and Chris greeted me with special homemade presents. Thanks to my wonderful in-laws for watching children and my sweet husband for picking them up and making the day possible. The first 40 years have been full of laughter, tears, excitement, hard times, surprises and tons of growth. I look forward to the future to be more of the same wonderful experiences.

I have heard it said more than once that every day above ground is a fantastic day. I agree with that philosophy whole heartedly. I thank all those who have made my life special. So a great big happy birthday kiss and hug to everyone!!!

I love you all.